A nine-year-old boy has created an application for the Apple iPhone that allows users to "fingerpaint" on the phone's touch-screen.

Tracing your finger over the screen while the program Doodle Kids is running allows you to create multi-coloured shapes. The screen can be cleared by shaking the iPhone.

Fourth grader Lim Ding Wen originally wrote Doodle Kids for his younger sisters, his father Lim Thye Chean wrote on his website.

"It is designed and written completely by himself," added the elder Lim, who bills his son as "probably one of the [world's] youngest iPhone developers" and said the boy has been programming since he was seven.